Young Hungarians get first taste of a new era
In Budapest, the victory party felt like an independence celebration.
Hungary’s opposition leader Peter Magyar announced plans on Monday for comprehensive change to reform democratic institutions, battle deep-seated corruption and restore his country’s commitment to the European Union after his Tisza Party’s historic landslide election victory on Sunday swept the authoritarian Prime Minister Victor Orban out of power after 16 years. It will take hard work, he said.
But voters who rejected Orban’s pro-Moscow, anti-EU rule on Sunday were still taking in the dawn of a new era for their country.
As election results rolled in yesterday evening, the capital Budapest surged with young people cheering and dancing. During an impromptu victory party that swelled beneath the national parliament, the building’s walls throbbed with the beat of a techno band staged between red, white and green lights.
Cheers rose as hundreds of phones lit up with Magyar’s Facebook message that Orban had telephoned him to concede.
As the news spread, the city’s long boulevards grew noisy with car horns and flag-waving partiers as young people made their way toward the parliament like an incoming tide.
It felt like a country achieving its independence rather than a mere election night. For the thousands of young people who have known only the power of Victor Orban, it was.
“It’s a new beginning for Hungary!” a first-time voter cheered. “We will have democracy!”
“They’ll stop stealing my money,” a young man said.
“We can stay in Europe!” his friend added.
On Friday night, musicians rallying the youth vote led chants of “Ruszkik Haza!”—Russians go home. During the weekend, many made references to the Hungarian uprising against Soviet occupation in 1956, still memorialized in artworks around the city. Hungary’s rock stars exhorted young people to vote during a 7-hour concert in central Heroes’ Square.
Sunday saw a record 79.5 percent voter turnout, leading to Tsiza’s unprecedented supermajority of 138 seats in the 199-seat parliament. Magyar urged the current authorities on Monday to convene to parliament to form a new government “as quickly as possible” ahead of the May 5 deadline.
Elizabeth Wise is a former correspondent for The Associated Press and The Economist Group.